314 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



and already a g'ood deal tilled ; the road passes by 

 many farms and through pleasant landscapes. The 

 species of rock of the South Mountain are quartzose 

 and gneissic ; in the valleys there is limestone. Mid- 

 way of the mountain stands Middletown, a little place 

 of perhaps 20 houses, 13 miles from Sharpsborough 

 and 10 from Fredricktown. The east side of the 

 South Mountain is a long and gradual slope, leading 

 to another broad, open, and well-settled limestone 

 valley, whence the several hills of the range have the 

 look of a low, undulating mountain-chain. 



Fredrick-town. The inland towns of America are 

 in general little known ; it is the occasion therefore of 

 a very pleasant surprise to come upon a spruce little 

 place where it had not been expected. The country 

 about Fredrick-town is pretty level, without being 

 monotonously flat. To the west is the South Mount- 

 ain, sufficiently distant to present a pleasing prospect 

 to the eye ; to the east there runs another, parallel 

 range of low hills ; north and south the broad valley 

 lies open, in all directions well-cleared and rather thickly 

 settled. Good clay soil overlies the grey limestone, 

 and gives an excellent account of the seed entrusted 

 to it. The town was begun only 18 years ago, but 

 counts already some 2000 inhabitants and 300 houses, 

 has several good buildings, and is even adorned with a 

 few towers. The streets run regularly by the four 

 compass-points. Few of the houses are of wood ; 

 most of them are of limestone or brick, the brick being 

 preferred here, as making drier and healthier dwell- 

 ings. The area of the town was formerly the property 

 of the Delancy family. + But during the Revolution 

 the eldest of the family, by inheritance the land-lord, 



